12 game-changing theme park attractions

By Tamara Hinson, for CNN

Updated 1452 GMT (2152 HKT) May 16, 2014

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Outlaw Run (Silver Dollar City, Missouri) – Dare you ride it? The first wooden coaster that features a double barrel roll as well as the world's steepest first drop on a wooden coaster (162 feet at 81 degrees) can be found at Silver Dollar City.

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It's a Small World (Disneyland) – "The combination of Mary Blair's iconic design work combined with the Sherman Brothers' enduring theme song made It's a Small World the first true theme park ride," says Robert Niles, editor of ThemeParkInsider.com, of this Disney stalwart.

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Blue Fire (Europa Park, Germany) – No more pinballing your head between the restraints after the Mack company built the first upside-down coaster without an overhead restraint that was both comfortable and safe.

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Matterhorn Bobsleds (Disneyland) – The first tubular steel continuous track roller coaster may be the biggest game changer in the history of thrill rides. This historic coaster's foundation is a pile of dirt which was excavated during the construction of another attraction at Disneyland.

Harry Potter Forbidden Journey (Fla.) – Potterheads or not, the high-tech ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at the Islands of Adventure park in Orlando is credited as "the first ride system to combine a tracked dark ride vehicle with a row of seats mounted to the end of an industrial robotic arm."

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Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (Disneyland) – When introduced in 1964, audiences thought the animatronic Mr. Lincoln was an actor in wondrous disguise.

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The Racer (King's Island, Ohio) – The double, racing roller coaster reintroduced wooden coasters to the world when it opened at Kings Island in 1972. It was the first wooden roller coaster built since 1947.

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Enchanted Tiki Room (Disneyland) – Yet another Disneyland attraction, this one opened in 1963 and was the first to feature audio animatronics. It remains one of Disneyland's most popular attractions.

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Pooh's Hunny Hunt (Tokyo Disneyland) – Definitely not the most thrilling ride in the world, but Tokyo Disneyland's ride was the first trackless ride on which passenger pods -- in this case large honey pots -- were able to move in different directions.

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Adventure Thru Inner Space (Disneyland) – Though now retired, Disneyland's Adventure Thru Inner Space was the first ride to allow passengers to change the direction they faced as the ride progressed, using a system known as Omnimover.

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Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Fla.) – This ride at the Islands of Adventure park in Orlando, Florida, has realer-than-real-life 3D effects and has been awarded the best dark ride for 12 consecutive years by Amusement Today's Golden Ticket award.

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Story highlights

It's a Small World is still one of Disneyland's most popular attractions

Blue Fire at Europa Park in Germany is the first upside-down roller coaster without a restraint

Pooh's Hunny Hunt in Tokyo Disneyland freed designers from the restrictions of a linear track

Disney's It's a Small World ride turned 50 in April.

By way of tribute, we asked top industry experts for their picks for the biggest game changers in the history of theme park attractions.

Outlaw Run, the first wooden roller coaster with multiple inversions, opened in 2013.

"A few years ago, Idaho-based company Rocky Mountain Construction developed a system where they could replace part of a wooden track with a steel plate," says Justin Garvanovic of the European Coaster Club.

"One major upshot was that it would now be possible to send wooden coasters upside down. The first example, Outlaw Run, saw the creation of something completely new.

"It's hard for a ride over 100 years old to do something 'game changing,' but Outlaw Run did exactly that."

The foundation for this attraction is actually a pile of dirt that was excavated during the construction of the moat around Sleeping Beauty's Castle -- a surprising start for what would become one of the world's most famous theme park rides.

"This is the first tubular steel continuous track roller coaster," says Tim O'Brien, vice president of communications at Ripley Entertainment.

"The tubular steel roller coaster is probably the biggest game changer in rides. It allowed for larger rides and for more variation, with sharper turns, sharper slopes, loops and corkscrews."

Whether you're a fan of the boy wizard or wish he'd magic himself away to another planet, it's hard not to be impressed by this high-tech ride.

"Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was the first ride system to combine a tracked dark ride vehicle with a row of seats mounted to the end of an industrial robotic arm," says Craig Hanna, chief creative officer at theme park design firm Thinkwell Group.

"The things that ride system could do with guests created the viewpoint that you are the camera in an astonishingly cinematic ride experience."

A talking, moving character might not sound incredibly exciting but the animatronic Mr Lincoln character, which now forms part of the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln audio-animatronic stage show, left audiences speechless when it first appeared.

"Mr. Lincoln, which was introduced by Disney at the 1964 New York World Fair, introduced the first generation of animated characters," says Dennis L. Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services.

"People hadn't seen anything like it -- they thought the animation was an actor in disguise.

Gone but not forgotten (it closed in 1985), this retro theme park ride was the first to use Disney's patented Omnimover system.

"The Omnimover ride system allowed ride designers, for the first time, to change the direction that riders were facing as they moved through the ride," says Robert Niles at ThemeParkinsider.com.

"No longer did you simply face the ride vehicle in front of you. Vehicles could swivel to redirect attention to animation elements located on either side of passengers, giving designers more opportunities to shape an immersive narrative experience."

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Islands of Adventure (Florida, 1999)

This ride took three years to build but it appears the effort was worthwhile -- it's won several awards and has been awarded Amusement Today's Golden Ticket award for best dark ride for 12 consecutive years.

"One real game changer is the Spider-Man ride system and its multimedia technology," says Maximilian Roeser at Mack rides.

"The 3D effects are so highly detailed and synchronized to the movement of the cars that you hardly can tell what is projection and what is real set."